joint action news - july 2013

www.jointaction.org.uk Joint Action News – July 2013

Joint Action NewsJoint Action’s Marathon MenJoint Action had a group of amazing men running the London Marathon this year. The VLM2013 Joint Action team consisted of two orthopaedic surgeons, Prof Robin Paton and Robert MacFarlane; one member of staff from the British Orthopaedic Association, Dan Maby; Dan’s brother-in-law and his brother, Dave and Peter Gostling, and two of Joint Action’s supporters (Charlie Lawrence and Matt Copeland).

70 year old Charlie Lawrence has been doing some fantastic fundraising to raise sponsorship including a Charity Football Match and a Country & Western Dance. “As I have had a replacement knee the thought of other people in pain and needing surgery kept me focused when times got tough. Once I got the ball rolling I was amazed at how it snowballed with donations coming in from everywhere. There are so many stories of reunions both with family and friends I wouldn’t know where to start. The whole experience was one of the most emotional ones of my life.” Charlie has raised nearly £5,000.

26 year old Matt Copeland wanted to run for Joint Action because his mum has Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD).

“This was my first year running the London Marathon. I found the whole experience overwhelmingly brilliant. A fantastic day

and one of the best experiences of my life and knowing I was raising money for a great charity.”

Dan, the BOA’s very own Information Systems Manager, found the challenge tough but exhilarating, especially as he and his brother-in-law, Dave, decided to wear sumo suits.

All of our runners had very respectable times (see table below).

If you’re interested in taking part in the London Marathon 2014 or another challenge, please contact Lauren on 020 7406 1767 or email [email protected].

Robert MacFarlane 03:23:34Peter Gostling 03:29:13Robin Paton 04:56:11Matthew Copeland 05:06:22Charlie Lawrence 06:01:51Daniel Maby 07:30:54Dave Gostling 07:30:55


The Orthocard™ – Important News

On Friday 21st June we stopped the production of all new O r t h o c a r d s ™ for patients.

Rest assured we did not take this decision lightly, rather on grounds of economic viability.

The Orthocard™ you currently have in your possession is still valid to use as long as you need it. We recommend that if you do have

a card, you get it laminated to keep the card lasting longer and to make it sturdy.

If you are unable to find your Orthocard™ or it needs to be updated with new joint replacements, please contact Lauren on 020 7406 1767 to get a replacement. This can be done up until Friday 26th July 2013. We do, however, ask for a donation of £5 to cover the costs.

If you have any other queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

In MemoriamThe following people recently left a

bequest to Joint Action in their Will.

Their generosity will live on in

the Trauma & Orthopaedic

research that benefits future generations of people with

musculoskeletal conditions.

Elsie EllisJoan Press

Florence Curran

HUGE THANKSJoint Action would like to thank Chris Smith for taking part in the BUPA Great Manchester Run to raise money for Joint Action. Chris currently does research with Professor Tim Board on a project that Joint Action is funding. The research project focuses on bone grafting, investigating further if it can be improved by cleaning the bone and adding bone-forming cells prior to grafting.

Thanks, Chris! A massive thanks to those of you who took part in the Ayrshire Joint Jaunt on 1st June and thanks to those who organised it. We are currently awaiting the final numbers regarding how much was raised. We will post the full story on the Joint Action website – www.jointaction.org.uk so keep an eye out!

In The SpotlightProf. J Mark Wilkinson – University of Sheffi eld

Prof Wilkinson applied for a 2 year grant from

.raey taht ni dedrawa ew stnarg eerht fo enoWe have put Prof Wilkinson and his project under the spotlight so we can show you what he has been up to since his grant award; how your support has made a diff erence and how

Orthopaedics.

Research:

Summary:

individuals in the UK having radiographic (“Xray”) evidence of the disease. OA is characterised by the “wearing-away” of the

present, is joint replacement surgery, which is both expensive and invasive. Currently, we

50% towards an individual’s risk of developing OA; however, the precise genes that cause OA are largely unknown.

UK funded arcOGEN study.

Our grant was £50,000. Your

for us – thank you so much.

BOA Summer newsletter 2013.indd 4 12/06/2013 11:00

Benefits to patients: We have now completed our analyses and have successfully identified a number of promising new and already known genes that appear to be significantly connected with specific types of hip and knee OA. The next stage of the study is to discover whether these genes are truly connected to OA by seeing if our findings can be reproduced within a completely different set of patients in other studies. By identifying the specific genes that contribute to hip and knee OA we gather a greater understanding of the pathways that lead to the disease. Subsequently, this provides the potential to develop new techniques to identify people at high risk of OA before they get the disease, and to develop new biological treatments to prevent the need for surgery.


The RaceThere are a limited number of spaces available for:

British Gas Great London Swim – closing date Monday 19th August 2013

BUPA Great South Run – closing date Monday 23rd September 2013

BUPA Great North Run – closing date Monday 8th July 2013 (this date is imminent)

Contact Lauren on 020 7406 1767 or email [email protected] to claim your place to race!

Online/Text GivingCan’t remember your login details for your Joint Action account but would feel safer giving a donation online instead of posting one? You can now give to our appeal through JustGiving to www.justgiving.com/JASummerAppeal2013 or you can even

text SUMM77 £10 to 70070 (if you want to donate more than £10 via text, the £10 text can be done a maximum of 3 times).

Join

joint action news - july 2013

Documents